The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1887-05-11
Arraignment OF Alcohol.

Col. Robt. G. Ingersoll in addressing
a Jury in a case which involved the
manufacture of alcohol repeated the
following terrible arraignmcnt of the
demon. No one can gainsay his truth
and no one can read il without shud-
der:
| am aware that there is prejudice
against any man who manufactures
alcohol. | believe that from the time
it issues from the coiled and poison
GUS worm in the distillery it empties
into the Jaws of death, dishonor and
crime, it demoralizcs everybody that
touches it from its source to where it
ends. | do not believe that anybody
can contemplate the object without
being preiudiced against the liquor
crime. All we have to do, gentlemen,
is to think of the stream of death, of
the suicides, of the ignorence, of the
restitution, of the little children tug
eiGg at the faded and withered
breast of weeping and despairing
mothers, of wives asking for bread. Of
the men of genius it has wrecked, the
men struggling with imaginary
serpents produced by this devlish
thing; and when you think Of the
lails, of the almshouses, Of the
asylums, of the prisons, ofthe scailolds
upon either bank, / do not wonder
that every thoughtful mau is preju-
diced against this damnable stuff call
ed alcohol. lntemperancc cuts down
youth in its vigor, manhood in its
strength and old age in its weakness
1t breaks the fathers heart, bereavcs
the doting mother, eXtinguishes nat
ural affection grasses conjual attach
ment, blights parental hope and brings
down mourning age in sorrow to the
grave. 1t produces weakness, not
strength sickness. not health, death,
not life. 1t makes wives widows,
children orphans, fathers iiends, and
all of them paupers and bcggars.
1t feeds rheumatism, nurses govt,
welcomes epidemic, invites cholera.
imports pestilencc and embraces con-
sumption. 1t covers the land with
i,lleness, misery and crime. 1t fills
your jails, supplies your almshouses,
and demands your asylums 1t en-
genders controversies, fosters quar-
rels and cherishes riots. 1t crowds
your penitentiaries and furnishes vic
tins for your scatl'olds. 1t is the life
blood of the gambler, the element
of the burglar, the prop oil
the highwayman and the support
of the midnight incendiary. 1t coun-.
tenances the liar, respects the thief, es-
teens the blaspbemer 1t violates OBJ
legations, reverences fraud ond honcrs
infamy. 1t defames beneyolence, hates
love, scorns virtue and SANDERS inno-
cence. 1t inctes the father to butcher
his helpless offspring, helps the hus-
band to massacre his wife and the child
to grind the parricidal Ak. 1t burns up
men, consumes women, detests life,
curses God, despises Heaven. 1t
suborns witnesses, nurses perjury. de-
files the jury box and stains the judi
cial crmine. 1t degrades the citizen,
debases ting legislature, dishonors
statesmen and disarms the patriot. 1t
brings shame, not honor terror, not
safety despair, not hope misery, not
happiness and with the malevolence
of fiend calmly surveys its frigbtful
desolation and unsatiated havoc. 1t
poisons felicity, kills peace, ruins
morals, blights confidence, Stays rcpu-
tation and wipes out national honor,
then curses the world and laughs at its
ruin. 1t does all that and more. 1t
murders the soul. 1t is the sum of ali
vilainies, the ia Their of all crimes, the
mother of all denominations, the devils
best friend and God's worst enemy.
Gamblers